Now that the first trading day of the new year is in the books, what does the first day really matter? Of course one day doesn’t make a full year, but it is quite interesting how much the first day of a new year can signal things to come. Over the past 20 years, the S&P 500 Index has been up 10 times and down 10 times; when the first day is green the full-year return has been up +14.2% on average, while a lower first day has resulted in the full-year return being in the red. (LPL)

Yesterday stocks were up about 0.80% making it a record-breaking start to the year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at record highs. The Nasdaq closed above 7000 for the first time ever. (CNBC)

Year-end holiday retail sales rose 4.9% compared to last year, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report. In addition, year-end bargain hunters were expected to spend another $69 billion last week.

Argentina's peso fell 15% in 2017 and was down 34% in 2015 and 18% in 2016. Inflation rose 21% in 2017. (CNN)